Shikabane's Keeper
by Shadow Strabi-star22
Summary: Ouri Kagami stumbled upon something that was frozen in ice long ago, something that would later come back to life. He encounters Valrin, a young silver-haired kleptomaniac with a dark secret hidden beneath her human shell. Unexplained events unites them and Makina together and they are forced to seek out the truth behind Shikabane Himes and their fight to reach 108 undead corpses.
1. Prologue

**A/N**: Here's a new idea that I needed to get out of my head before I lost it. Actually I've had this idea before watching this anime but I couldn't figure out which anime to incorporate this idea. So here you go! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. Shikabane Hime (Corpse Princess) belongs to the rightful owner.

* * *

**Prologue**

It looked dead, but Ouri began to back away just in case. Trapped within its crystal coffin, he stumbled upon a rare find that never ceased to exist before. Legend has it that a grand silver beast once streaked across the sky like a beam of moonlight, proud and imperious but over the decades no one has seen it since. And now Ouri has seen one with his own two eyes. He crouched behind the rocks, only peeking out to give the creature several glances. Mustering his courage, he carefully made his way to the bottom of cavern and held up his torch. The first thing he saw were the mighty talons, their ivory shine lost in the rapid deterioration of the body. Loose ends of ligaments, muscles and tendons hung from its lean frame like a curtain. Angelic silver wings torn and broken suspended in cold animation. Its head looked ahead but Ouri felt like the frozen amber eyes were watching him. What amazed him was how the ice managed to preserve a giant being and halt its decomposition.

"Poor thing," he whispered to himself. Noticing a small etching in the wall nearby, he knelt down and brushed the blanket of snow away. Beneath was a small slab of granite with weird symbols that he could just make out. "'Here lies the beast encased within its frozen sarcophagus, its purity and innocence stripped away by the cold and time. When humanity is on the verge of calamity, only someone worthy of the cause will melt this ice and unleash their savior.'" Scratching his chin, he walked back to the block of ice and sat down cross-legged, the gears in his head whirling and creaking in deep thought. Reaching out a hand he was about to touch the cool blue ice but a voice startled him and he retracted his arm immediately.

"OURI! Where are you? We need to return to the temple!"

_Oh crap! That's brother's voice, he sounds annoyed_. Scrambling to his feet, he gave one last forlorn look behind him and left the cavern. Noticing that night was coming up fast, he covered the entrance with a bunch of leaves, twigs and some rocks. He carefully trekked his way back and saw Keisei Tagami's silhouette in the distance. Cleverly coming out of the ferns from a different angle, he managed to conceal his secret and approached his brother calmly.

"Ouri! Where have you been? We're going to be late…..again." Not giving Ouri a chance to explain his reason, Keisei hoisted him into his arms and took off running. Holding on tight to his brother's shawl, he looked over his shoulder back to where he covered his secret.

"Ouri? What are you looking at? Is there something behind us?" Keisei asked, noticing the child's dazed expression.

"Nothing." Ouri looked at his brother and smiled. "Nothing at all."

"Oh….okay then." Keisei knew there was something wrong but he decided not to press it. After all, they were late as it was. He didn't feel like getting another lecture 3 weeks in a row for tardiness.

* * *

_10 years later…..._

Ouri trekked back to his apartment holding grocery bags in both hands. Being a normal high school boy raised by a monk is probably out of the norm but he didn't let that bother him.

"I'm home!" He called once he walked through the door. No one responded so he just brushed it off. Placing the materials in his small refrigerator, he walked back to his living room and noticed a shadow of a cat. The cat jumped through the walls and sat down on the floor, flicking its tail back and forth. Giving the feline a passive glance, he continued to do his house work as well as homework. Suddenly the door opened up and in waltzed Keisei.

"I'm home!"

"Welcome back." Ouri replied without much enthusiasm as he continued scribbling words on paper. A couple books were stacked around him, some propped upon to certain pages.

"What are you doing?" Keisei leaned over his shoulder and frowned. "Homework….tch that's no fun."

"Shouldn't you be doing monk duties today?" Ouri asked in annoyance, swatting his brother's hand away. "If you do then go away and stop bothering me." Keisei feigned hurt and grabbed himself something to drink from the refrigerator. An idea popped into his head and a smile stretched from one side to the other.

"Oooohhhh I understand! You want some more privacy with the lovely ladies! My little bro is steadily growing into a man!" He squealed as Ouri rushed to his bedroom, disappeared for one minute and came right back up with a couple of magazines in hand. He threw them angrily at his brother who ended up dodging all of them.

"I told you that I WASN"T interested in porn magazines or other adultery content! How in the world did you manage to decorate my room?!"

"When you weren't looking, duh!" Keisei laughed as he ducked, a flying encyclopedia whizzing past and collided with the wall. "Well your brother's off on monk duty and probably won't return until tomorrow!" He bolted out the door and jumped the railing. "Do your best!"

"Why don't you stay away you perverted monk!" Ouri yelled after him but he smiled. Walking back inside he looked up at the clock and his eyes widened in surprise. "It's that time of year again. I haven't been there in a while, I wonder if it's still there." Putting on his shoes and closing the door, he took off running to the mountains behind his brother's temple.

* * *

_30 minutes later…._

"Ah! Here it is!" Ouri smiled as he removed the leaves, twigs and rocks from the secret entrance. "It's amazing how nature tends to preserve age old stone." Crawling on his hands and knees, he just managed to end up in the large cavern with the monstrous ice coffin. "It's been awhile but this brings back memories." He smiled which slowly turned into a puzzled expression. Looking a little closer, he noticed that it was empty. The giant silver beast that he once saw when he was a kid was gone, vanished like snow into the thin air. Panic set in and he scurried to and fro, searched high and low but no trace could be found. He scratched his head in confusion, surely his mind didn't play games with him back then. He remembered quite clearly that nothing so beautiful and so divine could be erased for good.

"But….that's so weird….I know what I saw, I just know I did!" He looked around some more in hopes of seeing something useful before releasing a sigh. There were no evidence to explain the empty shell. Crawling back out and covering up the opening with disappointment, he trudged back down the path. Getting close to the temples he stopped and looked at one of the brightly lit rooms. _Maybe I should stop by my brother's temple for a bit. I don't have a clue what is in the inside._ Pushing open the door due to curiosity, he saw the multiple statues of Buddha and lighted incense candles. What drew his eyes was someone's body, a young girl's to be exact. She was covered in cuts and bruises with mud on her clothes.

"Hey! Are you alright?! What happened to you?" Closing the door and hurrying over, he checked her pulse only to find out that she was dead. A bunch of hypothetical situations popped into his head: Car accident, murder. The sound of voices jolted him out of his shock and he quickly darted behind the giant Buddha statue.

"Guardian! Please slow down!" A worried voice spoke before two monks burst in on the scene followed by a couple others.

"No! She needs me!" Keisei's voice was full of worry as he struggled inside. Peeking his head out Ouri watched his brother kneel down and held the dead girl close to his chest. Slowly the wounds and cuts evaporated and she looked as good as new. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled as she apologized to Keisei. Ouri also noticed that his brother has wounds that weren't there before but the thing that confused him the most was the revival of the girl who was indeed dead.

"I was certain…that that girl was dead…."

"Are you curious?" A soft voice asked. Looking down, he saw the black cat from his vision at his feet. "She's a Shikabane…"

"A what?" He asked.

"You'll become fascinated by Shikabane…..no….." The cat's eyes flashed dangerously. "You've already been fascinated by Shikabane before you met that girl…..probably a long time ago when you were young."

"When I was young?" Ouri didn't understand what the cat was talking about. How in the world did he come into contact with something dead that would end up moving again? It was preposterous and unnatural! "I don't get it."

"It will make sense in due time." The cat rose and walked away with a flick of its tail. "You better watch yourself Ouri. Take care."

_Damn cat! What did it mean by that? _ Ouri softly growled before watching his brother and the girl leave the room.

_A Shikabane huh? _


	2. Chapter 1: Her name is Valrin

**A/N**: Chapter 1 of _Shikabane Keeper._ Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. **Shikabane Hime** belongs to the rightful owner. Also Lisara Restall from **So I can't play with H?** is making a cameo throughout this story so she doesn't belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Her name is Valrin**

_Mid-afternoon…_

Last night's event replayed over and over in Ouri's mind as he silently made his way back to the Dai-Rin house, a safe haven that belongs to the Kōgon Sect. There was no way a girl who was dead one minute to be alive the next, that concept seemed illogical. On top of all that, the secret he kept to himself since he was young vanished, the silver beast with its cold amber eyes. Ouri was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't realize a soccer ball flying straight towards his face. The impact was unsightly and he fell backwards with a cry of pain. Grabbing his nose to make sure blood wasn't coming out, he glanced towards the kids who were calling out for their ball back.

"Ahhhhh he fell." One of them commented, his leg still suspended in the air after the kick.

"Hanagami are you okay?" The others chanted in unison.

"It's Kagami." Ouri grumbled as he bent over and picked up the ball. Throwing it back to the mischievous kids, he proceeded to enter the temple and shut the door behind him.

"I heard that you got attacked by a flying soccer ball." A gentle voice greeted him. He looked up to see Riko waltz in from the kitchen.

"Sorry it was my fault for not paying attention." He smiled. "I was lost in my thoughts."

"Always the imaginative thinker," She praised him, sitting down on. "Be careful though, too much thinking can lead to stress."

"That's what they all say." Ouri grabbed himself a drink and joined her in the living room. "Listen, I….uh plan to move out soon."

"Is that so?"

"It's not too far, I can always come over for dinner. I got most of my stuff packed so I'll ask my friends to help me move."

"Don't push yourself too hard. Managing two jobs must be stressful and on top of the school work load…."

"I'm okay, please don't worry about me." Ouri gave her a quick hug. "I'm going to finish my homework and then sleep. I have school tomorrow." Once he left the room, Riko frowned and turned her head.

"You heard that didn't you Keisei?" The door opened up and the monk solemnly walked in, shutting the door quietly.

"He's going through that independent phase." Keisei brushed it off like it wasn't something dangerous.

"You know, he's been dropping clues about living on his own, ever since you got those injuries back then." Immediately Keisei's mind flashed to that night and he gripped his cup tightly. "I'm comfortable with them so I chose to ignore it but he hasn't." Keisei didn't say anything but he adjusted his glasses in thought before excusing himself for the evening.

* * *

_The next morning…..._

Ouri rode his bike to school early, the feeling of the wind whistling past his ears rejuvenated his spirit and he couldn't help but smile.

"Good morning Lisara." He greeted the red-head beside him as he placed his bag on his desk. She glanced at him with her piercing emerald eyes and smiled in response; her index finger twirled aimlessly in the sea of red locks.

"Good morning Ouri." She replied. Ouri was about to make light conversation when something outside caught his eye. Twisting his head, he found himself face-to-face with a person, a girl to be precise.

"Huh?" He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window again. There was no mistake, there was a girl up in the tree and she was staring right back at him. Her silver hair, which reached the middle of her back danced in the short breeze but it was her eyes that captivated his attention in a heartbeat. They were baby blue with a splash of gold or was it amber. Minutes of silence passed between them before she blinked once and fell out of the tree. She landed perfectly on the ground and flipped her hair over her shoulder like it was nothing.

"God damn it, that free-loader from the class next door." The teacher growled, rubbing his temples. He noticed Ouri's lack of attention and looked out the window as well. What he saw caused a mild headache. "Would someone…..where is Lisara?" Ouri looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of red hair disappearing down the hallway. Clapping his hands together, the teacher brought order back to the classroom and resumed his lesson. Looking out the window, Ouri watched the small frame of Lisara chase the mysterious girl around the courtyard probably to give a scolding. It was almost as if she was teasing her instead, a smile on her face as she watched the red-head's frustration. Finally the girl stopped playing her little games and waited for Lisara to catch up, or rather let herself be tackled by the red-head. The two girls tumbled to the ground in a heap of arms and legs. Lisara ended up on top and she glared angrily at the girl beneath her. Smirking like a sly fox, the silver head reached up and-according to Ouri's point of view- caressed the other's cheek. Lisara's eyes slowly bugged out as she felt velvet lips graze innocently against hers. A small token of playfulness.

_Huh? They're really close_. Ouri thought as he watched Lisara's hesitation. Using it well, the silver head slithered out from underneath and disappear to the back of the school. Shaking her head with disapproval, Lisara trudged slowly back to class, her finger on her lips. She opened the door, sat back down and seemed to gaze absentmindedly out the window for the remainder of class.

"A friend of yours?" Ouri asked as he handed her a small drink from the vending machine. She gave a small indication of a nod. Already guessing what he was trying to imply, she decided to clarify a few things.

"Don't let that little kiss scene fool you. To me that little gesture of affection from her is a symbol of friendship." Lisara opened her drink and took a sip. "You see, she's a bit new at this school and I offered to help her before the semester started. Then before you know it she stuck to me like glue. She's a bit mischievous but she means well. Maybe one of these days she'll introduce herself to you."

"Could she do it right now?" Ouri indicated toward the girl he saw perched on top of the fence staring at the two of them like an annoying crow….a giant silver annoying crow. "I mean, she's practically here."

"Damn it!" Lisara crushed the drink in her hand and glared at her friend. "Shouldn't you be in class now? Your lunch break doesn't start until an hour later! Stop sneaking out of class. This is the tenth time this week!"

"But it's sooooo boring." Was the response as the girl waltzed over and started to play with her friend's red locks. "I want to spend quality time with you instead."

_That's so cute._ Ouri couldn't help but blush at that. Lisara was about to yell again but found herself at the mercy of the 'kicked-puppy dog eyes' as well as the pouting trembling lips. The girl also added a bit of whimpering sounds to feign innocence. Grumbling with reluctance, she tossed her drink away and straightened out her skirt. Lying down, the girl placed her head on Lisara's lap and started purring like a kitten.

"Just….Friends." Lisara placed a lot of emphasis on those words as she noticed Ouri watching with curiosity though she couldn't help but caress the silver threads with her fingers.

"Who's that Lisara?" The girl looked up to see Ouri and she smiled. "Oh I know him! He's that guy I was having a staring contest with! And then you started to chase me. That was fun."

"Hello there, my name is Ouri Kagami." He introduced himself. The girl opened her mouth to introduce herself but the lunch bell rang. Smiling apologetically, she whispered a few words to Lisara and then bolted back into the building.

"She plans on introducing herself soon; the bell just inconveniently rang at the wrong time." She stood up and offered him her hand. "Let's go, class is about to start."

_Yeah, lucky save by the bell. Oh well, she'll come back soon. _Ouri sighed but smiled as he followed his friend back in.

* * *

_Night time…..._

"I'll see you in the morning." Ouri said after he walked Lisara home. Since they only lived a couple blocks apart, he made it his duty to accompany her from school, she never complained since she actually enjoyed his company. The two of them would make small talk or formed plans for the weekend. Luckily for Ouri he didn't have any work to do today besides sweeping the temple floors. The teachers were pretty lenient on the homework load.

"Good bye." She smiled and waved. He waited outside her gate for a few minutes before making his way back to his apartment. About half way there something tingled up his spine and he stopped walking. Looking around him he didn't spot anything out of the ordinary. His intuition about mysterious phenomenon was never off, something was amiss. No sooner after he proceeded to walk, something crashed into the ground with a hard thud, throwing smoke into the air. He threw up his arms to cover the onslaught of dust and peeked out in curiosity. His eye widened when he spotted the body.

"Hey! Are you okay?" He hurried over and realized that the girl was the same girl he saw at his brother's temple. She was dead once again. Panicking he held her close to his chest and hoped that she was all right. Suddenly her arm shot up like she was trying to ward off some evil spirit. Gasping for breath she blinked once and looked at Ouri in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"Your heart wasn't beating." He stated simple and obvious.

"Forget that you saw me." The girl replied harshly and quite rudely.

"Your heart is still not beating." Ouri was so fascinated with the girl that he couldn't take a hint. This surprised the girl just a bit.

"Aren't you scared?" She tried to be intimidating but she kept her face expression neutral.

"Not really. You're alive." He said it with such genuine feeling that she was speechless for a second then she smirked. Raising a hand she slapped him and took off running.

"Makina!" Keisei called out as he pulled up on a motorcycle. Hopping on, Keisei kicked it into gear and zoomed off. Ouri looked after them in shocked a hand still on his stinging cheek.

"Well that was unexpected." He turned to see the silver head standing there behind him. She smiled. "Of course, she can play hard-to-get and you don't seem to be her type."

"How do you know? And I still expect a name so that I wouldn't have to call 'silver head' or something in that nature."

"My name is Valrin." She gave a slight bow with her right arm crossed over her heart. "A pleasure to meet you Ouri."

"Valrin huh?" Ouri stood still as she neared him, watched as she raised a hand and placed it on his cheek, the one Makina slapped. Slowly the pain ebbed away and he was left with the soft touch of a female hand. He smiled and sighed with happiness. "Thanks, the slap wasn't that bad though."

"I understand however I didn't want you to walk around school with a swelled up cheek. Besides what would Lisa say? She'd be asking how you got it and would pester you to no end."

"Lisa? Is that your nickname for Lisara?" He asked her as they decided to take a short walk. She nodded and smiled.

"I'm sure she's told you about how we met." Noticing the serene atmosphere, she waltzed over to the water fountain and sat down. She dipped her hand elegantly into the water and watched it lap gently against her. She gestured for Ouri to sit down beside her. He smiled and took her offering. The two of them stared at the water for a little bit, enjoying the moment between them. "If it weren't for Lisa I don't know if I could've survived on my own, in this world that I know nothing about."

"So did you have amnesia or are you just new here?"

"Oh I don't think I lost my memory. If I did then I wouldn't have remembered my name. Ahahaha!" She smiled and glanced at her watch. "It's getting late."

"Shall I take you back?" Ouri held out his hand for her.

"Mind dropping me off at the train station?" She took his hand. "My home is not around this district so I have to take the train here."

"I see." Ouri helped her get on his bike and mounted it himself. Pushing on the pedals he made sure she was comfortable and felt himself blushing when she wrapped her arms around him.

"How's your body?" Keisei asked as he weaved in and out of traffic, Makina holding on to him from behind. Since the wind was snapping angrily against her side and whizzing past her ears, she managed to put on a jacket for some protection and warmth.

"It revived." She said then added, "And besides you're with me now so I feel a lot better."

"Shirae and the others are watching the Shikabane. Can you go?"

"Yes."

"Good but don't attack those women. Shikabane can't pass their condition on. Those who were attacked by Hagino don't necessarily become Shikabane."

"Then that's…." Her mind didn't fully comprehend the logic behind that.

"They're either hypnotized or have admired Hagino's charisma from the beginning….or it's also possible that they convinced themselves that Hagino is a vampire. Either way, they're alive."

"So I don't have the right to kill living people…." By the tone of her voice, Makina sounded a bit disappointed as they reached their destination.

"No one, not even Shikabane, has such a right!" Keisei scolded, giving the keys to the waiting bell hopper. Picking the lock, Makina entered first followed by Keisei. The two of them quickly ascended the atrocious flight of stairs, all the while continuing their conversation.

"What about the seven corpses found in Hagino's house? Do you think he killed them alone?

"It's possible that he made those women in the harem kill each other. Even then.."

"I know…..those women are alive….and I'm…dead….." Kicking open the door to the roof, she tumbled in and was greeted by an ugly sight. Clench within his spider-like arms, Hagino held three women and it looked like he was about to devour them whole.

"You…..fell from that height and…." He stared at her in surprise. "So I was right…."

"From time to time, a corpse like you is born. One that has clearly died but its will remains, that stays animate and kills humans...a Shikabane." Makina responded before smiling. "And there's another kind of Shikabane, one that is created just to kill those Shikabane...Out of fear, pity, contempt and ridicule," Removing the torn jacket Keisei gave her she drew her favorable weapons of choice: two Ingram MAC-11 sub-machine pistols. "people called Shikabane Hime." Immediately the zombie women launched themselves upon her, tongues drooling out and claws extended. Rushing forward, Makina used one of them as a leverage and somersaulted over the rest. Locking her eyes on Hagino, she rained bullets upon him. Not only were her bullets hitting him but they were also embedding themselves in the neon light billboard, shattering their glass remnants.

"Look out!" Valrin shouted causing Ouri to stop when shards fell only a few feet ahead of them. Traffic wasn't busy so they decided to take a leisure route to the train station. Looking up, they saw some more falling from the billboard and the sound of gun fire reached their ears. They looked at each other before looking back up with confusion. Back on the roof, Hagino and Makina were locked in a fierce scuffle, rolling over and over before separating. Standing wobbly to her feet, Makina was quickly surrounded by the women and she cried out as she felt bites and punches bombard her body. Her breath was also cut short when one of the women found her neck and proceeded to squeeze with non-human strength. Soon the pressure was gone and she turned around to see Keisei's grinning face.

" And you're the one who told me not to attack them..."

"I just helped them evacuate safely. That's all."

"Come over here, Shikabane Hime..." Hagino's demonic voice captured her attention immediately and she growled at the vampire. "You and I are the same. We feast on humans and live forever."

"You and Makina are the same?!" Keisei spoke as he stood side-by-side with his partner. "Don't be ridiculous!" He placed a hand on her shoulder, a gesture for her to deal the final blow. She rushed forward and Hagino did the same. Positioning her guns forward, she barreled into him and pressed them against his body, pulling the triggers simultaneously. She winced as his claws plunged themselves deep within her back but she relentlessly continued to put bullets into his body. The two of them crashed into the entire billboard causing a lot of smoke to rise and sparks to erupt. Hagino screamed in agony as electrical currents flowed through his veins but he had no where else to run.

"Wait, Makina! It's dangerous!" Keisei called out as the entire top half crumbled toward the ground. Explosions ricocheted across the frameworks, shaking the entire structure.

"Dangerous?!" She said "There is nothing that I fear!" And to prove her point, she continued to fire bullets. "The only way to take down Shikabane is to destroy the brain. She had that merciless glint in her eyes as Hagino narrowed his eyes. "You feared me just now...you lose." With a last scream of defiance, the two of them fell to the streets below with a bang.

"Argh! I can't see through all this smoke!" Ouri braced himself as a wave of strong air almost swept his feet off the ground.

"It must be some battle but we can't stay here." Valrin whipped out her cellphone and dialed a number. "Hello? Lisa? Yeah it's me. Listen Ouri and I ran into some problems so I'm going to spend a night at his place. No it's okay I'll call the landlady once I'm done. Mmmhmm well I'll see you tomorrow for sure! Okay bye!"

"Huh? What? You called Lisara and told her that you'll be staying at my place?!" Ouri looked at her.

"Well I thought I could make it to the last train but with all this happening there's no way I'll make it." She threw him her best puppy-dog eyes, the ones that always get Lisara, and pretended to cry.

"Uwwwahhhhh! Okay okay you can stay with me." Ouri assured her, his mind was in overdrive in hopes of calming her down. He didn't want to make any girl cry because that'll make him look like the biggest douche in the world. Wiping her tears away, Valrin wrapped her arms around him again and the two of them left the scene, oblivious to the watchful eyes of a monk from the shadows.

* * *

_Ouri's apartment..._

They arrived at Ouri's place way past curfew. Valrin waited patiently by the door and watched as Ouri dragged in a cardboard box. Flickering on the lights they were greeted by Mizuki Inuhiko, Sumitori and Hiroshige Ushijima, all of them classmates from their school sprawled on the floor. Food and drinks were around them so it doesn't take a genius to know that they threw Ouri a party but passed out...or decided to not wait for them and fell asleep. A banner stating : Ouri Kagami, celebrating his ascent to manhood!" hung from the entryway.

"What's with them? Geez!" Ouri smiled.

"Well we can't really wait for them to wake up so why don't you handle those two boys. I'll take Mizuki to another room." Valrin placed her bag on the counter and proceeded to half drag half carry Mizuki to one of the guest bedrooms. Ouri looked at the other two; Sumitori's shirt was opened to the third button and Hiroshige's pants were halfway down his ass, a huge bottle in his hand. Chuckling to himself, he helped his friends into their futons and trudged back to the kitchen to grab himself a drink. Images of the girl he saw popped into his mind and he paused to think about it. The same girl he saw with his brother appeared before he once more dead. It couldn't have been a coincidence.

"Ouri?" Valrin stepped out in her pajamas and looked at him in wonder. "Is there something wrong?"

There's no way I can tell Valrin about this Shikabane business...I'll have to keep it a secret for now. Ouri smiled. "No it's nothing."

"Oh okay. Then I'm checking in. See you in the morning." Valrin waved goodbye and disappeared down the hall. Once the door clicked shut, Ouri placed his glass in the sink and went to bed himself. Just before he fell asleep, he felt a pair of eyes staring at him and he quickly looked around and spotted the cat looking at him.

"Oh it's you. Could you give me a break for today?" The cat narrowed its eyes but stood up and disappeared with a flick of the tail. Drawing his blanket over his body, Ouri got into a comfortable position and allowed sleep to wash over him.


End file.
